Art of briqueting



0. C. DURYEA AND M. C. WHITF- ART OF BRIQUETING- APPLICATION FILED FEB. I4, 1917.

1,371,671 Patented Mar; 15, 1921.

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o'rno CROMWELL DURYEA, or WATERIBURY, conun'orrcu'r, Arm moaars oonuncnus WHITE, or OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNORS'TO AMERICAN arnum MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH vDAKOTA.

ART or rmraun rme.

Be it known that we, OTHO CROMWELn DURYEA and MORRIS COLUMBUS \VHrrE, citizens of the United States of America, respectively residing at \Vaterbury, New Haven county, Connecticut, and Oakland, Alameda county, California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Briqueting, of which the following is a specification. Our invention relates to the uniting into an integral mass of a quantity of smaller particles of material and it consists in a method of accomplishing the result sought and in the product'of that method.

For a long time it has been considered desirable to join a large number of particles of matter so as to form blocks, briquets or other masses of various forms and sizes, because 'comminuted matter thus joined into larger units and made more compact, could be more easily and economically handled and could be used in ways not possible with .the

material in smaller divisions.

The methods usually employed involve the use of pressure to compact the mass and generally some sort of binder to hold the particles together, but such joindei is not entirely satisfactory for the reason that the product is likely to disintegrate upon the application'of a comparatively low heat and oftentimes by mere shock, such as that occasioned by the falling of the mass a short distance.

To meet the desire for asubstantially solidified mass, we have devised the novel method about to be described, which consists in assembling a quantity of the smaller fragments or particles of material to be treated, applying pressure to force them closely together andvthen suddenly raising the pressure to a high degree.

The sudden and practically explosive application of increased pressure causes the individual fragments or. particles to slide one upon another and the friction thus occasioned creates an intense heat at the proximate surfaces of the fragments and thereby fuses, welds or coheres those'fra ments into one mass, no longer a quantity 0 fragments closely associated, but a new product in- I tegral and substantially: solid, suitable for an infinite variet of uses. The heat produced at the sur aces of union of the par Specification of Letters Patent.

tic les is distributed by conduction, and causes no appreciable rise in temperature of the mass. The explosive pressure applied, WhlCh may be. maintained for an ap- Patented Mar. 15, 1921. Application filed February 14, 1917. Serial Na-148,581.

preciableperiod of time, is above the elastic limit of the materialtreated.

ThlS method may be practised in a variety of ways and with a variety ofapparatus, but the one we have found most satisfactory 1s a press in which the fragments may be confined, brought into intimate contact and then be united by a sudden raising of the pressure, for instance by firing a charge of explosive mixture or by the sudden release of a confined fluid pressure behind the head or plunger in contact with the material to be treated.

Such a mechanical movement is shown and described in reissued'Letters-Patent No.

12,957 issued May 18, -1909,.the process in its present application is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 show successive stages of the operation of the process.

When thus practised, we have constructed 'a die, the male member 5 of which is attached to or formed by the plunger ofthe press. The matter to'be treated, for instance iron borings or other comminuted or fragmentary matter 6' is fed into the cylinder part 7 of the die, which acts to confine'it and prevents its escape from the pressure. The plunger is then entered into the die cylinder and forced therein sulficiently to bring the fragments into intimate contact as mdicated in Fig. 1, this step in the process being comparatively slow. When this stage has been reached, the explosive charge in the press cylinder is fired and the force of the explosion drives the plunger farther into the die cylinder with tremendous power as indicated in Fig. 2, the blow resulting in thalg, solidification which is the result we see The tremendous pressure thus explosively applied may be relieved at once or held for an instant as may be found to best accommodate the particular material under treatment.

The mass of fragments, if of iron borings will be found to have been united into a solid block which may be handled and used as that much pi iron might be used, constituting in itse f a new and useful product,

purposes for which the products are to be used, but we have found that in treating iron borings', in charges of three pounds, in

a die of three inches diameter, a pressure risinggradually to 10,000 pounds per square inch of surface of the die, followed by an explosive pressure of 130,000 pounds per square inch of upper surface of die produces ver satisfactory results.

or do we limit ourselves to exploding gas as the means of securing the sudden raising of pressure. We may use some other expansive fiuidsuch as steam or compressed airby retarding expansion and providing means for sudden release, as it is very apparent that this would give the blow necessary to cause the desired result, but we prefer to use the explosive=means described on account of the more direct application of power in that way and'the consequent saving in cost. 7

What we claim and desire to secure by -Letters-Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a block formed of small metallic fragments which have been welded into an approximately solid mass by applying a comparatively mild "pressure and then the pressure suddenly raised to a high degree by explosive force by which the parts are practically welded together. I

2. The process of forming into one mass a'multiplicity ofsmall metallic fragments which consists in confining the small fragsure to bring ments, applying a mild pressure to bring the fragments into intimate contact and then raising the pressure withgreat suddenness to a high degree .to cause the fragments to which consists in confining the small fragments, applying comparativel mild presthe fragments into intimate contact with each other, then raising the pressure with explosive suddenness and maintaining the high pressure for an appreciable interval to cause said fragments to be welded together into a substantially solid mass and then set in that form.

4:. The process of forming into one mass a multiplicity of small'metallic fragments, which consists in confining the small particles, applying a mild pressure and then raismg the pressure with great sud-denness to a high degree, whereby said fragments are caused to slide one upon another and create ahigh degree of surface heat without Inuterially raising the temperature of the mass as a whole. a

5. The process of agglomerating smaller metallic masses, whic consists in assembling them in. a confined space, applying comparatively 'mild pressure, raising the pressure'with explosive suddenness to a high degree and maintaining a pressure beyond the elastic limit of the material for an appreciable time. r

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, this twentieth day of November, 1916.

OTHO CROMWELL DURYEA. MORRIS COLUMBUS WHITE. 

